The hieroglyphics
of Medjai-Tattoos: explanation for reading them
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Hieroglyphics are sign with
certain phones, for example an "m", but they also can
mean a whole word like "building". They also can
determine, what is meant with the rest of the letters, for
example a person: the word "reading" would be with a
figure-hieroglyphic the word "reader".
For the Medjai hieroglyphoic tattoos I used the Gardiner list in
which hieroglyphics were classified systematically. In this list,
the hieroglyphics were classified in groups. One group gets one
letter, and the particular signs in the group are numbered. One
example: The owl can be found in the group "birds",
this is the list "G". The owl is No. 17 in that list,
so the owl gets the determination "G17" in der Gardiner
list. With the help of this abstract international system one can
use the Old Egyptian online dictionaries easily. I have used this
dictionary: http://aaew.bbaw.de, that is the one of the Berlin-Brandenburg-Academy
of Science (BBAW). Here one can put in the Gardiner terms as well
as German words. The data material is based on inscriptions,
Papyri - old Egyptian data material. You cannot find anything
which was not written by the Old Egyptians. The hieroglyphics
shown in the small white pictures for explaining the Medjai
tattoos are from that dictionary. The Gardiner listings (using
German terms) you can find under www.hieroglyphen.net but I think you can find them easily for
English language if you surf the internet.